Matthew Cole’s first exhibition at BEERS London, Cabin Fever, sees the American artist translating the external world into uncanny, psychologically charged paintings of interior spaces.
Following a residency in Newfoundland, Matthew Cole reoriented his practice, translating the rugged North Atlantic landscape into psychologically charged interior scenes. What began as an exploration of the external world turned inward, emerging as narrative-driven compositions centered on domestic spaces. Drawing on Atlantic Canada’s traditions of storytelling and song, Cole’s paintings evoke a quiet emotional intensity, blending personal symbolism with an uncanny familiarity.
Initially seeking distance from his New York studio, Cole encountered a landscape rich in history and narrative. Back in the studio, he experimented with new materials and expanded notions of landscape, shifting from seascapes to constructed interiors where rooms, objects, and figures take focus. Windows frame distant views, while drapery obscures and reveals, creating layered, ambiguous spaces that recall diverse cultural references.
Each painting unfolds as part of an evolving autobiographical narrative. Suggestive yet deliberate, Cole’s works capture fleeting memory, emotional resonance, and a persistent longing for place, offering intimate environments suspended between reality and imagination.
